Is it me, Or........

[johnandrew70]

So the new PC mag has landed on the door mat this morning and i have to say i was bored within a few minutes of tearing off the cellophane wrapper, maybe its me but i feel the glossy cover is probably the best bit of the mag, Out of 155 pages 63 were pages full of adverts, I thought it was meant to be about caravans not about climbing mountains and hiking but 7 pages of Clare climbing Ben Nevis is something us Caravanners want to do with Stacey kitting us out with all the gear.
Where has Nigel Donnelly gone at least the articles back then were informative and funny at the same time, The mag also had the DIY articles and the back page that used to tell us what practical caravan reported on years ago and what the vans were like at that particular time.
Sorry if i sound like a boring old fart but i am only 44 and feel the mag is going a bit off track with some of the articles and would love to see some of the old stuff back.
Martin Roberts articles are funny and i enjoy the towcar tests pages, Not sure about the caravan chef page yet its growing on me.

 

[Gagakev]

So the new PC mag has landed on the door mat this morning and i have to say i was bored within a few minutes of tearing off the cellophane wrapper, maybe its me but i feel the glossy cover is probably the best bit of the mag, Out of 155 pages 63 were pages full of adverts, I thought it was meant to be about caravans not about climbing mountains and hiking but 7 pages of Clare climbing Ben Nevis is something us Caravanners want to do with Stacey kitting us out with all the gear.
Where has Nigel Donnelly gone at least the articles back then were informative and funny at the same time, The mag also had the DIY articles and the back page that used to tell us what practical caravan reported on years ago and what the vans were like at that particular time.
Sorry if i sound like a boring old fart but i am only 44 and feel the mag is going a bit off track with some of the articles and would love to see some of the old stuff back.
Martin Roberts articles are funny and i enjoy the towcar tests pages, Not sure about the caravan chef page yet its growing on me.

Your a bit slow John, cancelled my subscription 4 months ago
Did buy it this month to read when away last week, wont be renewing my subscription soon.
By the way Nigel moved on to pasture's new, bet his new readers get interesting reading.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

is it just you John. No it's not.
time was when practical caravan was about carvanning in a practical way with articles that both amused and educated us now it's more like a copy of the free ads [sorry did I say free] sadly Nigel left us and with it some of the most unusual interesting stories ever written. like the one where he bought an old wreck of a van did several articles on doing it up and then wrote of his adventures in it. now it's all new vans new cars and staff having a great time doing all the things we did years ago.

 

[Dustydog]

John
Well done for standing up and being counted.
Sadly the reality of PCv is it is owned by Lord Hezza and his Haymarket empire.
Money money money is the mission. Advertisers pay a lot for an insert.
For a long time now I have felt interest in the magazine and Forum has waned.
There is a consistent feeling amongst readers and forumites that advertisers cannot be upset. Hence complaints against manufacturers and dealers are often brushed under the carpet.
For years I have asked about QA and QC as has the Prof but again no articles ever appear for fear of upsetting the income stream.

I have met a number of the staff and believe they work very hard to get the mags out on time.
As Colin says the mag used to be informative about all things caravan .
There were regular articles about peoples own modifications.
Not many get printed now!!

 

[MichaelE]

I cancelled my subscription a few years ago too.
It started to become the same every month, to be honest after a few years there is only so much new you can write before you start going over old ground, for new new readers this is fine.
I used to like the new caravans articles around this time of the year, but then it seemed to get spread over a few months mags and you know that LR will win the 4x4 section of the tow car of the year?
To be honest i used to take out the subscription because of the autoglym offer.

 

[DeliDave_]

I cancelled my subscription a few years ago too.
It started to become the same every month, to be honest after a few years there is only so much new you can write before you start going over old ground, for new new readers this is fine.
I used to like the new caravans articles around this time of the year, but then it seemed to get spread over a few months mags and you know that LR will win the 4x4 section of the tow car of the year?
To be honest i used to take out the subscription because of the autoglym offer.

Exactly the same as you,

 

[johnandrew70]

Well the other half has been saying for some time now that its the same rubbish in the mag and i have been defending PC in the hope that they might get it right, but after flicking through the October issue i have come to the conclusion that the subscription will not be renewed.
After many years of subscribing to Practical Caravan i shall be looking for a new mag to keep me entertained, so if anyone can give me a few idea's on a suitable subscription i would be grateful, Preferably one without the entire editorial staff going on jollies because they want to but because its caravan related.
Its such a shame that PC wont listen to there readers, I know they need a certain amount of income from adverts but putting a £3.99 price tag on something that's crammed full of adverts has articles which is non caravan related and articles on new vans that the manufacturers have obviously had a lot of influence over is not value for money,
Even there website is full of adverts,

 

[johnandrew70]

Oh and one last thing, The Television Channel, If you are going to put people in front of the camera make sure they are going to be good at it, What i am saying is they are better off writing behind the camera instead of in front of it,

 

[woodsieboy]

Hi John

You have said exactly what I have been thinking for some time, we don't buy the magazine although we still get it when our neighbour has finished with his copy,as regards Nigel D, we had the pleasure of his company some years ago on a rally to Brittany organised on PC behalf and it is fondly remembered,just a pity that the magazine no longer has an interest in reader rallies IMO, we have been to Stowford several times but gave it a miss this year as it too was the same thing every year,as regards the TV channel.........less said the better

 

[Dustydog]

I thought Alistair Clements wasn't too bad on TV. At least his autocue seemed to work.

There have been a number of common failures across many makes of caravan.
Take Nordelectrica. We know there is an expert who can fix them by mail order but how do you safely remove and reinstall the charger in the first place?

There are mods that can be done to avoid hot water coming out of the cold tap at first.

Tricks of the trade?
Back in the 60s and 70s I took Car Mechanics mag.
It taught everything from basic to full engine rebuilds.

I'd like to know what everyone else wants from the mag and what the editors perceive we want?

 

[GrahamE]

Although new to Caravanning (this is our second year) I have found that there is sense of stereotype in the reviews of sites, the extra mail put in with the mag, the people interviewed on the TV program and the mag. This doesn't reflect the cross-section of caravaners out there. Not everyone has reached or nearing retirement and wants a quiet little site to sit out side there van all day. There are plenty of family's out there with 3 or 4 children who need a bit of space to run round, Dogs in want of an exercise area before they turn in. Big sites with night-time entertainment and on site eating, laundry ect ect..Everybody's needs are different in a holiday or weekend break and to me this should be considered when planning articles. Reviews of a big commercial sites from familys, where they went, what they did, cheap days out and prices of what they did and what car, caravan they have, who went and maybe how or why they got into caravanning. I suppose what I am saying is the mag needs to attract itself to a wider range of people. More DIY articles would be good, Anyway that's just my observations and thoughts.

 

[johnandrew70]

They could look through the forum to see what people have had problems with and do articles on it, The television channel had a little bit on solar panels but lets face it John Wickersham only showed us a solar panel with a multimeter and battery, not how to fit one.
They need a "how to" piece in the Mag Not articles on mountaineering hiking and skiing trips.

 

[RogerL]

To me, any magazine called "Practical xxxxxx" should be focussing 100% on DIY projects and any adverts should be for tools, maintenance services, etc.

If any magazine needs a high cover price AND substantial advert revenue to meet it costs, then it's doing something badly wrong - we'd all accept a free magazine full of ads.

 

[johnandrew70]

Its funny how none of the moderators have come on here to defend the Mag or Haymarket, Maybe they agree with what is being said here.
On 2 occasion's i have been told by the moderators that i am not allowed to do certain things, 1 because i wanted to sell my Awning (advertise) on here (the forums) and was told that Haymarket do not allow its members to sell items on the forum, Probably because they arent earning anything from the sale, and the 2nd telling off was because i put a link on here for my facebook group which is for Caravan and Motorhome owners, Probably because they are afraid that my group would get more interesting and informative that there Mag,

 

[RogerL]

As a moderator on a totally unrelated forum, I'd consider it inappropriate to comment in a thread "attacking" the forum host - unless moderation was needed to maintain decorum. Links are often banned to prevent malicious links being posted - you'd be surprised at the lengths some time-wasting scumbags get up to.

On a free forum, we all have to accept the providers T&C

 

[ProfJohnL]

Its funny how none of the moderators have come on here to defend the Mag or Haymarket, Maybe they agree with what is being said here...............................

Hello John,

You clearly don't understand the roll of the moderators, As Roger tells, their responsibility is to monitor and if necessary reminds forumittes of the required etiquette, and if necessary apply sanctions to posters who breach the rules.

The moderators are not paid anything to provide this service, and they are not required to defend the company's policy. So don't their silence should not be used to infer anything.

Dusty,
Earlier on you implied the magazine is driven by money. It is a fact that every hobby magazine has to cover its production costs, and so yes it is money. - even those run by charities have to cover costs by some means, and here we have a commercial company so they will be looking to maximise income Without profit the company will fail.

I'm not defending or necessarily agreeing with the content, because each person has their own ideal content, but the magazine will survive or fall on the readership continuing to buy it. If the customer does not like the content then first complain about it, and then if it does not improve customers will simply not buy it.

Whilst commenting about content on this forum is a legitimate subject, it would be better to write direct to the magazine.

 

[seth1]

A very funny one is this.I stopped buying the magazine along time ago,but at the time of buying it,i also used to buy the other magazine.This is probably around the start of our caravaning career,i still buy it when were away though.In all honesty and as been said,there is only so much can be written about caravans.I think with most of us including myself the" new to caravanning feel "is wearing off along with the interest.The forum is alot quieter to.

 

[Dustydog]

Prof,
Why write direct to the magazine?
Surely the"magazine gurus" read this forum :S

 

[GrahamE]

Prof,
Why write direct to the magazine?
Surely the"magazine gurus" read this forum :S

And more chance they will consider changes from this than getting the odd e-mail or letter in the post.

 

[johnandrew70]

We all know the editors read it as they sometimes reply to post's

 

[DeliDave_]

I agree with pretty much everything said on here apart from expecting the mods to get involved,they are only there to help the forum run smoothly and keep the rules obeyed.
It does seem though that any work on the van is forbidden,I also enjoyed Nigels work on the old van and simple jobs like changing stabilser pads could be shown.Doug used to do a few jobs and you could learn a lot from that.Its probably a legal minefield know

 

[GrahamE]

I agree with pretty much everything said on here apart from expecting the mods to get involved,they are only there to help the forum run smoothly and keep the rules obeyed.
It does seem though that any work on the van is forbidden,I also enjoyed Nigels work on the old van and simple jobs like changing stabilser pads could be shown.Doug used to do a few jobs and you could learn a lot from that.Its probably a legal minefield know

Give it time and you will need a dealer only laptop just to change water filter.

 

[RogerL]

Why might DIY maintenance or customisation of caravans become a legal minefield - it's not happened with DIY car maintenance

 

[johnandrew70]

haha love it, If you think about it they dont want to show us how to mod or repair our vans because we will be less likely to trade them in, so the manufacturers wont sell so many new vans with all those new idea's because we have already retrofitted them to our old van.

 

[johnandrew70]

Why might DIY maintenance or customisation of caravans become a legal minefield - it's not happened with DIY car maintenance

Well VW dont take too kindly to ecu remapping they even have something built into the ecu that tells VW germany that the ecu has been compromised when the dealer laptop has been plugged in.

I think Delidave means because we are all living in a sueing society haymarket could have there knuckles wrapped because some idiot drilled a 2 inch hole in the roof of there van to feed a cable through and now it leaks when it rains.